U.S. sanctions 9 Cuban entities, 3 officials
The United States has imposed sanctions on nine Cuban state entities and three officials linked to the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, or ICAP, as part of the Trump administration’s broader push against the Cuban government.
The sanctions were announced on Thursday and include ICAP President Fernando González Llort, First Vice President Noemí Ramona Rabaza Fernández and North America Director Leima Martínez Freire. ICAP is a Cuban government organization that coordinates international friendship and solidarity programs.
ICAP President González was one of the Cuban Five, members of Cuba’s Wasp Network, which infiltrated Cuban exile groups in South Florida.
The five were convicted in the United States on espionage-related charges after their 1998 arrest, a case that became a major source of tension between Washington and Havana.
González completed his prison sentence and returned to Cuba in 2014; the three members who remained in U.S. custody were exchanged later that year as the Obama administration moved to restore diplomatic ties with Cuba.
The entities targeted include nickel and cobalt producer Empresa de Níquel Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara; metals trading company Metalcuba; mining and salt group Geominsal; and Acinox Comercial, which imports and exports metallurgical goods and industrial equipment.
The State Department also sanctioned Cuba’s Ministry of Construction and several state-controlled foreign trade companies, including Coratur, Transimport and Consumimport. It said ACOREC S.A., another newly sanctioned entity, supplies Cuban labor to foreign companies operating in the country and has withheld more than 90 percent of workers’ wages.
The sanctions block any property or interests belonging to the designated people and entities that are under U.S. control. U.S. persons are generally prohibited from conducting transactions with them, while foreign companies and financial institutions could face sanctions risk for certain dealings.
The action follows U.S. sanctions announced last month against 10 Cuban state entities and paramilitary groups, including the Ministry of Tourism, energy companies and organizations accused of helping repress dissidents.
The post U.S. sanctions 9 Cuban entities, 3 officials appeared first on BNO News.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
